The world slammed back into Daniel like a falling mountain.
When he stepped through the doorway in the Void, he expected more darkness, more memories, more impossible truths. Instead, he awoke face-down in wet soil, coughing up river water as sunlight stabbed at his eyes.
His body felt heavy, like something inside him had been drained.
He tried to push himself up but collapsed again.
"Easy… please, don't move too fast."
The voice was soft. Human. Real.
Daniel blinked through the haze and saw her — a girl kneeling beside him at the riverbank, her hands cupping cool water she gently poured over his cracked lips. She wore simple village garments, patched and worn, and her hair was tied back in a hurried knot like she hadn't had time to care for it.
"You nearly drowned," she said. "And you were burning with fever. Your markings— they were glowing."
Daniel's eyes widened. He pulled down his sleeve, and sure enough, the sigil from the Void pulsed faintly beneath his skin, though weaker now… almost asleep.
"How long was I unconscious?"
"Two days."
Two days.
The Void felt like moments. Or eternities.
He sat upright slowly as the girl handed him a wooden flask. "Drink. You'll need your strength."
"Why are you helping me?" Kaizen asked.
She looked away. "Because fate brought you here. And because we need help."
As if on cue, a distant roar shook the trees.
The girl stiffened.
"They're back," she whispered. "The beasts."
The Beast Tide
The village was small — scattered huts, rough fences, and people carrying fear in their eyes like a second layer of skin. Smoke rose from cooking pits, but the air held the bitter scent of burned wood and blood.
Daniel followed the girl to the main square, where villagers argued around a broken barricade.
"Another wave will come tonight!"
"We won't survive it!"
Daniel stepped forward, leaning on a makeshift staff.
"What's happening here?"
All eyes turned to him.
The girl stepped forward quickly. "He's the one I found at the river," she explained. "He—"
"A stranger won't save us," an older man snapped. "Leave him be."
But Daniel raised a hand. "Tell me about the beasts."
The elder sighed, shoulders sagging. "Every three days they come. Wolves, boars, scaled things with too many teeth… all drawn by something wicked in the deep forest. We've survived only because they avoid the inner fields during daylight. Tonight is the final surge."
Daniel looked toward the treeline.
The Void still echoed inside him, faint but present — like a scar whispering warnings.
He clenched his fist.
"I'll help you."
The crowd murmured.
"You're wounded," the girl protested. "You can barely stand!"
"Standing isn't required," Daniel replied. "Only fighting."
The Night of the Tide
Night fell like a curtain of iron.
The first howl broke the silence at dusk.
The village trembled.
Daniel stood alone at the broken gate, bandages wrapped tight across his arms, his sword planted in the ground before him. The girl watched from behind the barricade, hands clasped tight against her chest.
The beasts emerged — dozens, then hundreds, glowing eyes and snapping jaws spilling from the forest like a living flood.
Daniel exhaled once.
The mark on his arm flickered—Just once.Just enough.
He drew his sword.
The first wave hit him like a crushing tide, but Daniel moved with precision forged by instinct deeper than memory. His blade cut arcs of silver through the darkness. Every movement echoed with something older, something the Void had awakened.
A wolf-beast lunged. He sidestepped and cleaved it in two.
A scaled boar charged. He vaulted over its tusks and struck its spine.
Three serpent-backed beasts circled him. He dodged, parried, and struck, each blow fueled by the strange pulse in his veins.
Hours passed.
Blood soaked the ground. The air grew thick with smoke and dust. Kaizen's breath ragged, arms burning, vision blurring.
But he did not fall.
Not until the last monster — a towering horned brute twice his size — crashed through the barricade and roared at the sky.
Daniel planted his feet.
His arm burned with light.
He leapt.
Steel met bone.Light met darkness.
The beast screamed — a dying, shuddering thunder — before collapsing in a heap of dust and dark blood.
Daniel fell to one knee, chest heaving, sword clattering from his hand.
He had won.
The village was safe.
But the cost…
Blood dripped down his side. A deep gash carved from shoulder to ribs. His vision dimmed. He swayed.
The world tilted.
And he collapsed.
The Girl's Voice
Someone caught him before he hit the ground.
Warm hands. A trembling voice.
"Daniel— Daniel, stay awake! Please—!"
He opened his eyes just enough to see her face — splattered with dirt and concern, eyes shining with something he didn't understand yet.
"You saved us," she whispered, guiding his head onto her lap. "All of us."
Daniel tried to speak, but only a faint breath escaped.
The last thing he saw before darkness took him was the glow of his mark fading into silence…
…and the girl's tears falling onto his cheek as she held him tightly.